Dusk is a Different Color
by Austin Jade
Summary: Series of Tai/Sora one-shots involving their ever-evolving relationship. Genre/Rating may change. Part I - The Shot Heard Around the World


Hey, there. The Fox is back and better than ever. But, I need to shake off the rust before I get back on the horse. So, to keep you all entertained, it's time for some Tai/Sora fiction; something different, you know. I don't know how many of these are written now; the show is like 10+ years old, but this and 02 were the only Digimon I ever watched, so… These are the little moments Tai and Sora have during their time together as friends or whatever. Have a bit of fun with it.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**The Shot Heard Around the World**

The young brown-haired boy held his mother's hand tightly as the two plus the young baby held in the mother's free arm tramped down the hallway. The young Taichi, or Tai, for short, frowned at his predicament. He _wanted_ to play soccer with his friends. It _was_ a Saturday, after all; the last one before school started.

Tai's mother would have none of it, though. They were going to meet new neighbors in the building. Apparently, the new neighbors and his mom had been friends for years, and now were able to catch up on old times. Tai was just hoping he'd have something fun to do.

After several moments, the trio made it to apartment 403. A knock later, and the door opened with a creak. Standing there was a woman who appeared no older than Tai's mom.

"Yuuko-chan!" the newer woman exclaimed loudly.

"Toshiko-san! It's been so long!" The two women hugged and exchanged pleasantries, before the Kamiyas were offered entrance into the home. They sat on the love seat in the home, while the other woman sat in a chair next to a window.

After about 15 minutes of listening to the two elder women discussed what had been going on recently, Tai began to get restless. "Mom?" Tai called. "Mom!"

The mother shushed her son, which forced a pout from the boy. "And, this must be, Taichi-chan!" the woman known as Toshiko stated. "He's so much bigger than when I last saw him!"

Tai looked at the older woman astonished. "Mom, who is she?"

Mrs. Kamiya smiled at her son. "She's an old friend from my school years, Takenouchi-san. She was there to help out when you first got home!" Tai furrowed his brow, wondering what she was talking about.

Toshiki inspected the young boy. "He's about Sora's age."

Tai's mom chuckled. "Well, you were expecting the same time I was, right?" The other woman chuckled lightly.

The brown-haired boy blinked twice, before yanking on his mom's arm again. "Mom, what's a 'Sora'?"

As if to answer his question, the door to the apartment swung open, and in ran a young girl trailed by an older man carrying a bag of groceries that reminded Tai much of his father. "Mom!" the girl cried excitedly, who hurried over and hugged the woman. The girl smiled brightly as Tai watched her, intrigued.

Tai's mother bent down and whispered to her child. "Honey, that's Sora-chan, Takenouchi-san's daughter." Tai barely heard the woman, though, his eyes never leaving the young girl. Sora suddenly turned and just noticed the boy eyeing her. She froze in place, as well.

Yuuko nudged the brown-haired boy. "Go say, 'Hello'," she encouraged.

Tai looked at her, then back at the girl. Some of his friends said girls were bad and that they shouldn't have anything to do with them. They complained they were into icky things, like dolls and pink. Some even had older sisters, who they despised because the sisters would watch them. But, for the first time examining one closely, there seemed to be nothing wrong with them. He dropped to the ground and hustled over to the young girl, who had placed a finger to her lips inquisitively. He stuck out a hand. "Hi, I'm Taichi!" he stated quite loudly.

The girl seemed to become a little shyer, holding her mother's arm even more tightly, but, with some reassurance from her own parents, she took his hand firmly. "S-Sora," she muttered.

Tai didn't know what to say next; he had never really _talked_ to a girl, before, outside of being a necessity at school. "I like your hair!" he brightly chirped.

The girl looked at the ground to hide her embarrassment, this time. "Re-really?"

"Yeah! It looks funny!"

One loud smack later and Tai found a perfectly good reason not to like girls. After swift apologies to the two parents, Mrs. Kamiya hurried her own children home, grounding Tai for the rest of the weekend.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Two days later, Tai was dropped off at school by his Mom. He could tell she was still stern with him, he didn't know why; _he_ was the one who got hit. He didn't think he did anything wrong, he had never seen hair that…well…bright, before.

He decided that, eventually, he might learn what happened. It was time to worry about school. After a loud, bustling hallway and 20 minutes later, he and all the other children were seated at their desks.

A middle-aged woman with black hair walked in and stood at the front of the room. She wrote her family name on the board and turned to cheerily face the children. "I'll be your teacher this year!" she eagerly stated. "I am Sakimori-sensei." The children greeted her honorably.

"Right, now before we start the new year, I have someone to introduce you to." She motioned at the door and a little girl with a leather blue hat and straps covering her hair peered in warily from the door. Light footsteps echoed as she stood at the front of the room. "This is our new student, Takenouchi Sora. Greet her warmly, class!"

The girls were noticeably louder with their greeting as compared to the boys of the class. Tai merely gaped at the girl, who he didn't recognize until the teacher had recited her name, before scowling. "Why don't you take the empty desk next to the window?" Sora mutely nodded. "Treat her nicely, class!"

The orange-haired girl was only a few steps from her seat, when she noticed Tai out of the corner of her eye and frowned at him. The rest of the day, Tai kept his scowl on her, while Sora busied herself with her work, forcing herself to ignore him.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It was Friday after school when Tai and his friends began to play soccer in the schoolyard. Little Tai was, once again, fought over on whose team he should be on, with he, himself, gloating over the rest of the boys.

"He's on _our_ team!" a blond-haired boy older than Tai shouted.

Another shorter child scowled. "No way! He was on your team, last time! He should be on our side!"

"But you lost the arm wrestling match at lunch!"

"What does that have to do with it!"

"You agreed we could have him if I won!"

"No, I didn't!"

The blond boy finally had enough of the shouting match. He took the soccer ball and dropkicked it at the boy. Hard. The second boy saw what he was doing and instantly dropped to the ground as the sphere zoomed inches above his skull. The ball launched away towards the parking lot directly a young girl in a blue hat.

Tai recognized the girl immediately. "Look out! Sora!"

At the announcement of her name, the orange-haired girl turned and saw the ball speeding at her head and dropped down. Instead of ducking out of the way, though, she popped back up and hit the ball with the top of her head, poking it up several feet into the air. The ball lightly fell in front of her and she caught the ball easily.

The entire male group stared dumbfounded at the girl, who dropped the ball on the ground and kicked it. The ball landed a few feet in front of the group and rolled to a stunned Tai's feet.

Tai raised his head to her, mouth agape. She just returned it with a smug look. One of the other boys breathed his surprise before telling the blonde boy, "You can have Tai, I want _her_ on my team!" He clasped his hands to his mouth. "Hey~! You want to play soccer with us!"

Her face brightened from shock into a smile and nodded eagerly, hustling over to them.

"No way! You can have Tai. I want her on my team!"

"But I called her first!"

"But I _saw_ her first!"

Tai was not amused by suddenly being trumped by another soccer player; a _girl_, no less. "Hey! We can't have her play with us! She's just a girl!"

Sora, well within earshot at this point, skidded to a halt. Tai was only six, but he already had a sixth sense as to when he felt a death glare upon the back of his head. He slowly rotated his head around to face an extremely angry young girl.

Cheeks puffed and all, the girl raised her voice to volumes Tai didn't even know existed. "I WANT TO CHALLENGE YOU TO SOCCER RIGHT NOW!" The boy stumbled backwards onto his rear at the declaration. "And if I win, you have to let me play with them!" A low muttering amongst the other boys at who might actually win the game; Tai was very good, but none of them had seen a girl perform the moves she had. Tai, for his part, numbly nodded.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Several minutes later, the soccer ball was lined about 20 feet away from the goal in front of Tai, who was nervously standing in the goal. The orange-haired girl made sure the ball was set, bent down to re-tie her shoes, before turning and walking away.

"We'll do three kicks each, got it?"

"S-sure…"

Uncertainty laced his entire body; what if he lost? Would he ever live it down? Could he? He stared down his opponent and waited as she took several steps back away from the ball.

High-pitched male voices cooed from the sidelines, watching the events unfold.

"You better not lose, Tai!"

"Go, New Girl!"

"You want a _girl_ to win? What does that mean for the rest of us?"

Sora suddenly whirled around to face the goalkeeper, eyes glinting with fierce determination. Tai gulped down a lump in his throat as the girl bore down on the ball. The ball launched with great speed at the brown-haired. He lunged towards the ball, but far too late; the ball hit the back of the net before the boy had time to react.

A few cheers littered the multiple jeers at Tai messing up, as Sora stood confidently, arms crossed at the boy. For a moment, she thought he would quit or try to claim an injury and get out of the match, but he picked himself up off the ground stood at her. He walked over and grabbed the ball from the net and turned.

To her surprise, his face wasn't angry or annoyed, at all. He was actually smiling. She felt her face flush as the boy tossed the ball back to her. She caught it, reset the ball and returned to her position to prepare for the next kick.

Tai's smile remained, though his eyes gained the same determined glint that Sora's had. The crowd, which had gained several more students, quieted down. Again, the girl rushed towards the ball, and, again, the orb sprung from her foot towards the goal.

This time, though, Tai was ready. The boy anticipated the kick and dove as soon as Sora's foot began to move forward. The boy's arms were barely long enough, but they had just enough length to swat the ball away from the goal. A loud grunt echoed, as the boy roughly landed on the ground, the sphere landing harmlessly, left of the goal.

Sora groaned that she missed, but quickly regained her composure. The crowd simply murmured; about how good this unknown was; about how good Tai was to be able to block the shot; about how much fun Tai seemed to be having, even against a girl.

Tai leaned back on his knees for a moment to catch his breath from the exhilaration. He hurried over to the ball and tossed it to the girl, his grin never leaving his face. This time, however, Sora grinned back at him. She wanted, more than ever, to best this opponent. Not to show him a thing about girls, but because he was really, really good.

The ball repositioned; the goalie refocused, and the kicker reset, the crowd hushed for the third attempt. A tense few seconds passed, before the orange-haired girl pressed forward and lunged her foot forward. Tai, expecting the shot, dove to the right. Sora, however, was a step ahead of Tai, this time, and caught him leaning. She booted the ball, hooking it in the opposite direction. The brown-haired child reached aimlessly at it causing him to somersault backwards, the ball floating into the net to a great roar from the crowd.

The boy sat on the cool grass, laying on his hands and looking at the sky. "Sora…huh…?" The girl of said name suddenly stood over his partially prone form. Her lips formed a firm line, but her eyes betrayed her; she was having just as much fun as he was.

"It's your turn, Taichi," she stated sternly.

He hopped to his feet, seeing the ball already set up for him. He did a few extra stretches to prep and set himself up to for his first shot. A few chants of his name reminded him the crowd was actually still around. He realized he hadn't even had a chance to showboat, like usual. This was a lot more fun than normal.

His grin at the girl was returned by another blush and pursed lips. His smile dropped, directing his attention to the ball. Accelerating quickly, he followed through with a powerful kick that hooked the ball into the upper right corner of the net. Sora tried her best, but never even came close to the shot; its speed and direction were perfect.

The young girl hopped up quickly; not at all pleased she missed it, and turned to her opponent the moment she snagged the ball from the net. She whirled to her adversary, but stopped short of throwing the ball back. It was then she noticed that the boy was slowly working out his right foot, specifically, his ankle.

A worried sigh escaped her lips, before she silenced it vigorously. The boy smirked at her, motioning her to give him the ball. She nodded once and chest passed it to him. He caught it and dropped it, setting it with his left foot. A grimace of pain twitched across his face, and didn't go unnoticed by the girl. He, however, made no other acknowledgement of the discomfort.

He reasserted his determination, gritting his teeth and glaring down the ball. He sped to the ball and aimed the ball to the same spot, but on the other side of the goal. However, his plant foot didn't give him the extra energy to transfer. Sora was once again late to jump at the ball, but was able to recover enough to bop it just enough outside of the goal.

The ball back in his hands, he placed it in the divot the two had dug in the ground with their kicks. The crowd roared both of their names, as it was the last kick. He could barely hear them, though. If he hadn't seen them when he turned around, he wouldn't have even remembered they were there. All that he saw was the sphere, the goal, and the obstacle between them, Sora.

He felt the chilled wind whip his face as he bore down on the ball.

He sensed a shiver run up his spine as tender ankle met solid ground.

He released a ferocious grunt from his diaphragm as foot met ball.

Something was not right, however.

He slipped.

He fell.

The ball rolled quickly along the ground, but it was a trickling rivulet compared to the monstrous waterfall that was his previous two kicks. Sora stopped the shot, effortlessly compared to the last two, and the ball helplessly spiraled back towards Tai.

A silence filled the air; followed by a raucous boom of cheers and a mob surrounding Sora, congratulating her for the excellent play. Sora felt the adrenaline evaporate quickly and the shyness return. She peered through the crowd and saw Tai sitting on the ground. He looked disheartened. When he raised his head and saw her, though, he gave a thumbs up and smiled at her.

The girl couldn't help herself; she smiled brightly, too.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The seven-year-old Tai stood outside the Takenouchi household, feeling butterflies in his stomach. He raised his fist and slowly knocked on the door. It opened slowly to an amused Mrs. Takenouchi.

"Ah…Hi, Takenouchi-san…" Tai gulped, feeling the heaviness of her gaze upon him did little to quell the butterflies in his stomach. "Is…is Sora home?"

The mother's face softened just a bit before allowing the boy entrance into her apartment. Tai muttered thanks and entered. The woman called her daughter, who appeared from around a corner. The girl's eyes widened for a moment at the boy's appearance, but the rest of her expression hardly changed.

Tai wondered if she had gotten her glance from her mother; his stomach had started doing backflips. "Hi, Sora."

"Taichi."

His eyes dropped. "I…uhh…just wanted to say…sorry…"

"Hmm?"

Her exhalation caused him to left his head. Her eyebrow had risen inquisitively. She wasn't making this easy, that's for sure. "I'm…sorry. I didn't mean to make fun of your hair. I like it. A lot. It's just really bright."

Nothing happened between them, causing Tai to lower his head, again. Shortly thereafter, though, a second pair of feet was in his vision and he felt something warm wrap around him. "It's ok, Taichi."

The boy was almost surprised mute by this response. The only thing he could say was "Tai…"

"What?" she mused, backing away from the hug with a smile.

"It's Tai. Call me, Tai. Only my Mom uses my full name. And usually because she thinks I did something wrong."

"Alright…Tai."

The butterflies finally subsided, allowing him to act more normal around her. "So, hey, do you think you could teach me that move you used on me, yesterday? That misdirection kick?"

Sora smirked brightly and nodded. "Sure!"

Mrs. Takenouchi wiped the dishes clean, but beamed softly hearing the two children cheerily talk back and forth about soccer, school, and Sora's hat as the door shut behind them. "It looks like you made a new friend."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Read and Review, please. Any feedback is appreciated and replied with a PM from yours truly with answers to questions or a personal "Thank You" for reading…or as personal one can get from a message sent from one computer screen to the next.


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